Box Break: 2019-20 SP Game Used Edition Hockey

Practically every card in a six-card box of 2019-20 SP Game Used Edition Hockey by Upper Deck is a hit. Each box is guaranteed to have one premium autograph or premium memorabilia card, plus three more memorabilia, autograph or “premium” hits per box. Clearly, the idea behind SP Game Used is to give collectors a shot at getting some awesome memorabilia cards.

Each box has one pack, which contains six cards, and costs around $100. That averages to about $17 or so per card and really puts the expectation that these will indeed be great memorabilia cards inside. Or, at least a cut or two above the standard “UD Game Jersey” cards found in Upper Deck Series one and Series Two.

Let’s see how my box stacked up.

1 Base Card

My base card of Brayden Point was numbered 095/275, though the serial number is on a sticker, instead of foil-stamped onto the card. First, we get sticker autographs, and now we get sticker serial numbers.

Base cards are usually an afterthought in a set like SPGU, where collectors are most. concerned about the hits. The base cards are nice, though, as they are thicker than standard cards and printed on shiny foil board. The curved lines are etched into the cards.

Card backs have this brushed steel look to them and have several years of stats and vitals such as height and weight. There are 100 base cards in the 2019-20 SP Game Used Edition Hockey set.

1 Authentic Rookies

In addition to the 100 base cards, the 2019-20 SP Game Used Edition Hockey set also has 100 “Authentic Rookies.” This Josh Brown rookie card is numbered out of 294 copies. Why 294 copies? I have no idea.

1 Authentic Rookies Autographed Card

This Ryan Poehling rookie card is signed but not numbered. Curious.

1 Gold Jersey Relics Memorabilia Card

This Zach Senyshyn rookie card is numbered out of 599 copies. The back states that the swatch was taken from a a jersey worn by Senyshyn, but it does not say if the jersey was worn in a game or during an event.

1 Stadium Series Fabrics Memorabilia Card

The back of this Michael Raffl card states that the jersey swatch is “event-used…in the 2019 NHL Stadium Series.” OK…so, does that mean that it was used in the game, an outdoor practice or maybe an autograph signing? Who knows!

1 NHL Relic Blends Memorabilia Card

Pasta! Numbered to 125 copies, this David Pastrnak jersey card uses swatches from a jersey worn during the 2019 NHL Skills Competition. Again the back of the card says “event-used” but also says that it was worn during the Skills Competition. I guess that’s fair, since the Skills Competition isn’t actually a game.

What I like about 2019-20 SP Game Used Edition Hockey: $100 is a nice price point for a box that offers four hits. There is a chance of getting an autograph of a current NHL superstar or a jersey/autograph combo card of one of this season’s top rookies. The standard card designs are cool.

What I do not like about 2019-20 SP Game Used Edition Hockey: Not all of the jersey cards are actually game-used, which should be a given considering that the set is called SP Game Used Edition! Not all card are serial-numbered, but should be, considering the cost of this set.

My biggest problem with SP Game Used Edition Hockey is that it doesn’t explicitly state if the swatches used on the cards are from actual game-used jerseys. And other than sometimes having serial numbers, the jersey cards are really nothing special when compared to jersey cards found in Upper Deck Series One/Series Two. Or at least that was the case with the box I opened. The set itself looks cool (I’m a sucker for shiny cards!) and would not be impossible to put together. ■

Follow Sal Barry on Twitter @PuckJunk.